Vehicle-fender.



J. OLEARY.

VEHICLE FENDER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, 1914.

1,126,558. Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

J. OLEARY.

VEHICLE FENDER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, 1914.

1,1 26,558, Patented Jan. 26, 1915.

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vehicle, .guard has been tripped and has been from rising,

JOHN o nnnnr, or conons, new roan;

VEHICLE-FENDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 25, info.

Application filed July 22, 1914. Serial No. 852,461.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN OLnAnY, a citizen of the United Fatates,residing at Cohoes, in the county of Albany and State of New York, haveinvented new and useful l'nr provements in Vehicle-Fenders, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My present invention relates to improve ments in fenders for vehiclesand more particularly automobiles, and the primary objects of theinvention are to provide a fender which will protect and avoid injury tothe head of a person standing when struck by the automobile and whichwill prevent passing of either of the wheels over a person,

the latter feature involving a wheel guard which is normally held by alatch in position in readiness for operation and is tripped to allow itto drop either automatically, upon encountering the body of a person, ormanually by the operator in the seat of the and in which the latch, whenthe dropped, acts automatically to hold the guard in depressed positionto prevent it thus avoiding passing of the guard over the body, thewheel guard being also constructed in a manner that will permit it to bereadily lifted into an inoperative position when desired.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in certain improvements,and combinations and arrangements of parts, all as will be hereinaftermore fully described, the novel features being pointed out particularlyin the claims at the end of the specification.

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fenderconstructed in accordance with the present invention, the fender beingQSDBCItIllYQClaPtGC l for use upon automobiles; Fig. 2 is a sideelevation of the fender, showing the same applied to the front of anautomobile, the wheel guard being shown in normal position by the fulllines and in operative and inoperative posi tions respectively by thedotted lines; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the fender as applied to anautomobile; and Fig. l is a detail perspective view showingthe latch forthe wheel guard.

Similar parts are designatedby the same reference characters in theseveral views.

The preferred form of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawings and will be hereinafter described in detail. It

will be understood, however, that the invention is not restricted to theprecise construction shown, as equivalent constructions within the scopeof the annexed claims are contemplated.

In the construction shown, the fender comprises a main or body sectioncomposed of the upper and lower horizontal rails 1 and 2, the verticalrods 3 connecting the upper and lower rails, the brackets 4- which arepreferably forked, as shown, and secured at their forward ends to thebod} section of the fender and at their rear ends to the front axle 5 ofthe automobile, and uprights 6 connect the upper and lower rails l and 2and are provided at their upper ends and in rear of the upper rail 1with brackets 7. The frame of the main or body section of the fender maybe covered with wire mesh or the like, and the upper rail 1 ispreferably provided with a padding 8, as shown.

he present invention provides a guard or shield which will preventinjury to the head of a person struck by the automobile when such personis in a standing position, this guard or shield being positioned infront of the radiator or hood and lamps of the automobile so that it.upon encountering the head of a person, will yield rearwardly, therebyminimizing the shock incident to the contact or collision. In theconstruction shown, this guard or shield comprises a rail 9 which ispreferably provided at its forward side with padding 10, as shown, and apair of supporting arms 11, preferably in the form substantially ofhellcranks, which are fixed to the rail 9 near its ends. The rearportions of the supporting arms 11 are pivotally connected to thebrackets 7 on the main section of the fender by pivotpins 12 which areadapted to be inserted in one of a plurality of apertures 13 formed ineach of the brackets 7, it being preferable to provide a series ofvertically spaced apertures 13 inthe brackets in order that the heightof the shield or guard may be adiusted to conform to requirements ininstalling the fender upon different automobiles, Springs l-i areattached to the arms 11 and act to hold the shield or guard in a forwardposition and permit the shield or guard to yield rearwardly when thesame encounters the head of a person. In order to set the shield orguard properly in normal position, stops 15 are formed on thesupporting11 and are adapted to abut against the upper sides of the brackets 7,thus resisting the tendency of the springs 14 to swing the shield orguard farther forward and permitting the shield or guard to yieldrearwardly. The guard or shield to protect the head of a person occupiesa position in front of the radiator or hood and the lamps of theautomobile and prevents injury to the head of a person struck by theautomobile from contact with such parts. The shield or guard, however,is so constructed that it does not interfere with these parts as usuallylocated upon an automobile.

That section of the fender which I term a wheel guard to prevent passageof both wheels of the automobile over the body of a person is locatedbeneath the main section of the fender. It comprises, in theconstruction shown, a horizontal rail 16 which is adapted to encounterthe body of the "person and a pair of arms 17 which guide and supportthe rail. The arms 17 are pivoted preferably at the rear of the lowerrail 2, they being shown pivoted to vertical bars 4 attached to thebrackets 4 at the points 18 in the present instance, and these arms 17are curved in a manner that will permit the rail 16 to be lifted into aninoperative position in front of the main or body section of the fenderwhen desired, the wheel guard being shown in' this position by thedotted lines in Fig. 2. Normally, the wheel guard occupies the positionshown by the full lines in Fig. 2, it resting at a suitable distanceabove the ground so as to avoid contact therewith during movement of theautomobile, and the present invention provides a latch to retain thewheel guard in this normal position but which will permit the wheelguard to drop to the ground before the wheels, either by the pressure ofthe body of a person against the rail 16, or manually, by the operatorof the vehicle. In the construction shown, a pair of latches 19 areemployed which are pivoted at 20 to the main portions of the brackets4;, and each latch has a pair of notches 21 and 22 to cooperate with aretaining projection 23 on the respective arm 17, the projections 23engaging in the notches 21 of the latches when the wheel guard is innormal position and engaging in the notches 22 when the wheel guard isdepressed. The shape of the notch 21 and the relation between thelatches and the projections 23 is such that rearward pressure upon therail 16 of the wheel guard will disengage the projections 23 from thenotches 21 and cause the projections 23 to enter the notches 22 as thewheel guard drops. The latches are yieldably held in cooperativerelation with the retaining projections 23 of the wheel guard by S r henw e ard i lepres sed, the engagement of the projections 28 in thenotches 22 serves to lock the wheel guard in depressed position, therebypreventing it from becoming lifted and allowing the body of the personto pass beneath the wheels. Instead of depending upon automaticdepression of the wheel guard when the same encounters the body of aperson, the operator may cause the wheel guard to drop by depressing apedal or equivalent device 25 located within convenient reach of theoperator in the seat of the vehicle, this pedal being connected to thelatches by cords or cables 26 which cause the latches to be lifted andthereby disengaged from the retaining projections 23 of the wheel guardwhen gravity of the latter wlll cause it to drop. Release of pressureupon the pedal 25 will allow the latches to drop under the action of thesprings 24:, thereby engaging the retaining projections 23 in thenotches 22 and thus holding the wheel guard in depressed position.

I claim as my invention 1. A vehicle fender comprising an up rightrelatively fixed main or body section, a head rail extendinghorizontally above the main or body section, brackets attached to saidrail and having their rear portions pivoted whereby the rail may moverearwardly, said brackets being provided at their forward portions withmeans for positioning the rail in normal position, and springs connectedto said brackets and operative to yieldingly retain the rail in itsnormal forward position.

2. A vehicle fender comprising a main or body section, and a head guardlocated above the same and having a spring yieldably holding the guardin normal forward position, and stops for setting the guard in itsnormal forward position.

3. A vehicle fender comprising a main or body section, and a head guardpivotally mounted above said section and yieldable rearwardly relativelythereto, the pivots for the guard being adjustable vertically to varythe position of the guard relatively to the body section.

4. Avehicle fender comprising a body section having means for attachingit to a vehicle, and a wheel guard pivotally mounted beneath the sameand capable of occupying a normal operative position below said sec tionor in folded relation flatwise against the front of said body section,and a latch for holding the guard in normal position and activeautomatically to permit dropping of the guard.

5. A vehicle fender comprising a main or body section, a wheel guardlocated beneath the same and movable in a direction rearwardly anddownwardly, and a latch for holding said guard in normal position andreleasableautomatically by pressure rearwardly on said ping of thelatter.

6. A vehicle fender or body section, a Wheel guard located beneath thesame and having a retaining projection, and a notched latch cooperativewith said projection for holding said guard in normal position andreleasable manually to permit dropping of the latter.

7. A vehicle fender comprising a main or body section, a wheel guardlocated beneath the same and movable rearwardly and downwardly, and alatch for holding said guard in normal position and releasableautomatically by rearward pressure on said guard and also manually topermit dropping of the guard.

8. A vehicle fender comprising a main or body section, a wheel guardlocated beguard to permit drop comprising a main Copies of this patentmay be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the neath the same,and an automatically tripped latch normally supporting the guard inelevated position and operative automatically to lock the guard fromrising when in depressed position.

9. A vehicle fender comprising a main or body section, a wheel guardlocated beneath the same, and a latch for retaining said guard in normalposition and operative to lock the guard against upward movement when indepressed position.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JOHN OLEARY.

Witnesses:

DAVID I. DONOVAN, WVILLIAM MABY.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

